This invention relates in general to the use of small computers and other lightweight or mobile electronic devices that receive data input by alphanumeric or operational means.
Throughout the 1990s the computers that millions of people now use worldwide have improved at an amazingly rapid rate, to the point that the power and mobility these devices now have is truly breathtaking. In particular, the amount of work they can do has greatly increased while at the same time their size has greatly decreased, the latter to the point that today a capacious and multifunctional computer can be made that is no bigger than a common video-cassette. But such devices have one major limitation: their keyboard keys are presently so small and close together that it is impossible to enter data into them at typical secretarial speed for any length of time. Indeed, in February 1998 one research manager for a major computer maker (Celeste Baranaski of Hewlett-Packard) said: xe2x80x9cUnless some breakthrough is made in keyboard technology, many of these smaller travel keyboards just won""t work.xe2x80x9d And in that same month a journalist (David MacNeill of Pen Computing Magazine) Said of present palmtop computers that their xe2x80x9cInappropriate input methods, such as tiny QWERTY keyboards, hobble us in our attempt to enter our information into a device, wasting our time, and even causing physical pain.xe2x80x9d Indeed, even a slight reduction in a keyboard""s width may significantly reduce a typist""s speedxe2x80x94as then the keys are arranged differently than the spacing at which one may be accustomed to typing.
However, a few inventors have long been aware of this potential deficit of typewriters, computers, laptops, palmtops, calculators, and other alphanumeric/operational input devices that are designed with versatility and mobility in mind. For example, in 1974 George Margolin in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,758 described an EXPANDABLE KEYBOARD FOR ELECTRONIC POCKET CALCULATORS AND THE LIKE, in which xe2x80x9ca keyboard of familiar layout for a full-size desk top data terminal is organized in three modular portions:xe2x80x9d which when closed its three modular portions are arranged in a stacked position as shown in FIG. 7 of Margolin""s Patent. But it is obvious that Margolin""s invention, while reducing the surface or xe2x80x98footprintxe2x80x99 area occupied by a standard desktop keyboard by about two-thirds, does so at a sacrifice of triply increasing the keyboard""s depth, so that such a device could hardly be carried like a videocassette in one""s pocket or purse. Then in 1991 Adrian Crissan in his U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,644 described a COMPACT PORTABLE COMPUTER HAVING AN EXPANDABLE FULL SIZE KEYBOARD WITH EXTENDIBLE SUPPORTS, in which the outer quarters of his keyboard comprise xe2x80x9ca pair of fold-out flaps containing a portion of the keysxe2x80x9d which can be rotated upward and inward so that when closed said outer quarters lay flat upon the middle half of the keyboard. But this arrangement also considerably increases the invention""s depth by the thickness of its folded-over portions, as is obvious from examination of FIG. 1 of Crissan""s Patent. A further deficit of Margolin""s and Crissan""s inventions is that when their keyboards"" outer portions are folded onto their central portions, all the keys are concealed so they cannot be used when their keyboards are thusly closed. A number of other patented keyboards, especially U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,343 to Roylance for a COMPRESSIBLE/EXPANDABLE KEYBOARD WITH ADJUSTABLE KEY SPACING, U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,307 to Karidis et al for a KEYBOARD WITH BIASED MOVABLE KEYBOARD SECTIONS, U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,787 to Karidis et al for a KEYBOARD WITH TRANSLATING SECTIONS, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,870,034 to Wood for a COMPACT COMPUTING DEVICE WITH COMPRESSIBLE KEYBOARD (see also Classes 400/88 and 400/682) have keys arranged that close upward, downward, or sideward in various ways, but none of them simultaneously allow the parent system to (a) reduce its width by as much as 40 percent without compromising any other dimensional aspect and (b) operate in both open and closed positions as does the Disclosed Invention.
If one looks at a standard keyboard, one will notice a significant amount of space between the sides of any pair of adjacent keys. In a standard keyboard with xe2x80x98Chicletxe2x80x99 style keys and a standard 19 mm pitch (center-to-center dimension between two adjacent keys), these intervening voids typically include about one-third the center-to-center distance between adjacent keys. Now if these voids could somehow be maintained when the keys were in standard or xe2x80x98openxe2x80x99 position, yet eliminated when the keys were in contracted or xe2x80x98closedxe2x80x99 position, a keyboard""s total width could easily be reduced by about one-third when closed. Then if the sides of each key were given indented profiles that would allow each pair of adjacent keys to interlock when they closed, the distance between their centers could be reduced even more, until a 28-29 cm wide standard keyboard could easily be fitted into the 18-19 cm length of a common videocassettexe2x80x94at no increase of depth. This is what the Disclosed Invention does. Specifically, its keys are mounted on a laterally flexible assembly made of a multiple-X network of supporting busbars and interconnecting braces, in which the busbars conduct electronic data from any activated key mounted on their tops and the braces interconnect the busbars and stabilize them and the keys above; then the sides of adjacent keys have indented profiles that enable all the keys to be drawn even closer together than could occur with normally straight-sided keys. The busbars may also have positional guides beneath their front ends that keep the keyboard from sliding or moving out of place whether it is open or closed, and these guides may have electrical contacts that conduct electronic data from the keys"" micro-circuitry to the operational circuitry of the parent computer or other electronic system, also whether the keyboard is open or closed. The Disclosed Invention""s total assembly of keyboard and laterally flexible assembly would also remain thin, so its depth alone will not seriously impact the depth of the parent system in which it is installed.
The utility of the Disclosed Invention is further enhanced by certain means of trigonometric trickery that seem to deceive the eye. For example, when the laterally flexible assembly""s sides extend from closed to open position, its front-to-back or longitudinal dimension must necessarily decrease; but surprisingly, when its lateral dimension is increased from 17.7 to 27.8 cmxe2x80x94more than 57 percentxe2x80x94its front-to-back dimension decreases by only 9.36 to 9.13 cmxe2x80x94hardly 2 percent. Indeed, at the above dimensions (which were taken from a working model made by the inventor), the disclosed keyboard""s surface area when in open position is actually 53 percent greater than when closed. Thus this keyboard, while greatly increasing the width of its keys when it is extended to open position, does not create rows of keys whose fronts and backs become too close together when they are open nor does it seriously affect the longitudinal dimension of its parent system when they are closed. Another trigonometric trick of the Disclosed Invention""s laterally flexible assembly is that when it contracts, the keys mounted on it rotate slightly, which allows the keys"" indented side edges to interlock in a manner that enables the keys to have the same side-to-side symmetry as those of normal keyboard keysxe2x80x94qualities that make the disclosed keyboard more interesting and attractive as well as easier to use.
Subsequent to this Patent""s original filing date, the Inventor has made numerous improvements to the Disclosed Invention and incorporated them into this Continuation-In-Part (C.I.P. No. 1), as described below:
As originally filed, the Disclosed Invention includes a certain matrix of electrical conductors that underlies the keys and conducts electronic data through electrical contacts on their undersides of their busbars to the parent computer or other electronic system that the invention serves. However, this matrix of conductors has been improved as follows:
If one examines the matrix of microcircuitry that underlies the keys of a standard computer keyboard, one will find in addition to numerous horizontal and vertical circuits all sorts of diagonal and curving circuits, of which the latter are not adaptable to the arrangement of essentially parallel and equidistant busbars as described in the Disclosed Invention as originally filed. On the other hand, the wiring matrix that underlies a typical digital-dial telephone""s four-by-three-row arrangement of 12 keys (10 numerals plus the # and * keys) is a simple arrangement of four horizontal and three vertical circuits. Now, considering that the keys of the Disclosed Invention are arranged in horizontally lateral rows (i.e. the A S D F G H J K L ; "" keys) and diagonally front-to-back columns (i.e. the busbars oriented as           of which the F3 3 E D C keys comprise one such column), a digital phone wiring matrix can be enlarged, laid nearly flat, and its top inclined slightly to the left so its horizontal and vertical wires align with the keyboard""s rows and columns of keys. Then, since a number of these hair-sized conductors can easily be arranged as on computer circuitboards within the width of a busbar (especially if these bars are widened as described further below), the horizontal wires on each busbar may extend along the sides of the keys and converge at a collector locus near the back of the bar, from where a flexible multiple microconductor known as xe2x80x9cribbon cablexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ccircuitry ribbonxe2x80x9d can span the varying distance to a mating collector locus near the back of the adjacent busbar. Such flexible multiple microconductors are found in many of today""s computers and their printers, two examples being the flexible flat cable that extends from a laptop computer""s base through its hinged top to its LED display, and the ribbon cable that extends from an ink-jet printer""s processor to its ink-cartridge assembly (these latter cables are so flexible and durable that much of their 14-inch length is bent almost 180xc2x0 every second as the ink-cartridge assembly dashes back and forth across each page as the printer operates). Next, suppose the keyboard is divided into three parts: (1) the leftmost keys that lie to the left of the centermost bar, (2) the rightmost keys that lie to the right of the centermost bar, and (3) the centermost bar, or spine bar, which is the busbar that supports the keys F6 6 Y H N keys. Now, considering only the leftmost keys for the moment these keys have 6 horizontal rows and 6 near-vertical rows. Thus, adapting the digital phone wiring matrix described above, these keys can have 6 horizontal wires and 6 near-vertical wires underlying their rows and columns, then on each busbar each horizontal wire turns upward at the sides of each key and the vertical wires turn to the right at the bar""s back in a manner that leads all the wires to a collector locus near the back of the bar; then from here the wires (plus possibly an incoming power and/or ground wire) extend via a flexible flat cable to a second collector locus on the busbar adjacent to the right, and in this manner a series of flat cables extends from busbar to busbar toward a collector locus near the back of the spine bar. Such a matrix comprises the microcircuitry for the leftmost keys of the keyboard, and a similar matrix of microcircuitry for the rightmost keys is for the most part a mirror image of that of the leftmost keys. Then all the leftmost and rightmost wires (plus the wire for the spine bar""s keys) extend from the back of the spine bar to its front, where, since this bar""s bottom moves very little as the keyboard opens and closes, a final flexible flat cable connects all the leftmost, rightmost, and spinebar wires to an XY decoder situated beneath the spacebar. Then from the XY decoder a pulse train of binary code from all the keys enters the parent system where this data is processed into the characters that appear on the system""s display.
However, before proceeding on, an important exception to the above-described XY matrixing should be pointed out here. The number of circuits required for each key can be other than two: it can be one, or three, or theoretically any other number, because all that is necessary is for each key to have its own unique combination of circuits leading from it to the parent system""s processor. Obviously one extreme would be for each key to have its own private circuit to the parent processor; but this of course would be a cumbersome ribbon for a keyboard of more than seventy keys to carry. The other extreme would be for each key to be lined up on a neat XY matrix, as then a minimum number of circuits could serve all the keys. But for reasons that are too complicated and irrelevant to describe here, some operational or functional keys usually need their own individual xe2x80x98hot linexe2x80x99 to the parliamentary processor, a circuit they share with no other key; so that in most embodiments of the Disclosed Invention the collective feeder ribbon that connects the whole keyboard to the parent processor will likely contain more than the theoretically minimum number of circuits.
The chief advantage of this microcircuitry matrix as described above is not only its improved nature but its articulation. Although the Disclosed Invention""s Patent as originally filed described a means of conducting electronic data from the keyboard to the parent system, it did little more than describe this circuitry in one of its drawings as xe2x80x9ca typical schematic of the microcircuitryxe2x80x9d in part of one busbar and the parent system below. And prospective manufacturers of the Invention have evinced a desire to know not only that electronic data can be conducted from the keyboard to the parent system, but how, and their interest in the Disclosed Invention will remain nascent until they have this information. Thus this Continuation in Part includes a microcircuitry map of the keyboard and claims related thereto.
An important aspect of the above-described microcircuitry is the design of the flexible flat cables that conduct electronic data from busbar to busbar to the XY decoder beneath the spacebar whether the keyboard is open or closed. These conductors may have at least three equally functional embodiments: (1) A flexible flat cable or ribbon that extends from the back of one busbar to the back of the adjacent bar so that when the keyboard is open the ribbon extends rather flatly between the bars and when the keyboard is closed the ribbon droops pronouncedly between the bars. (2) A flexible flat ribbon folded into a roughly xe2x80x9cWxe2x80x9d shape whose ends are connected to indents in the adjacent sides of two busbars so that the ribbon remains generally in its plane of movement as the keyboard opens and closes. There are many possible variations of this type of conductor. In fact, ribbon 1 may also have one or more accordion-like folds that reduce the depth of its ride. (3) Conductance via wireless means. By locating on each busbar a small microchip with a drive circuit that activates an adjacent sender photodiode and locating on the adjacent busbar a mating microchip and receiver photodiode, a series of wireless sender/receivers can carry electronic data from busbar to busbar on to the XY decoder under the spacebar. The chief advantage of all three conductors is that they give prospective manufacturers more flexibility in assembling the Disclosed Invention according to their own design criteria and inclinations.
As originally filed, the Disclosed Invention""s keyboard establishes its minimum width when closed by having the sides of its keys touch each other as they interlock. But if the keys touch, any depressed key might activate an adjacent one. However, if the width of each busbar is increased until it is, soy, 1 mm wider than the narrowest or indent-to-indent width of each key above, the busbars"" abutting sides will maintain a corresponding 1 mm gap between the indents of adjacent keys when the keyboard is closed. The wider busbars can also hold a given number of microconductors more easily, they provide a wider anchor for the keys mounted thereon, and they can be made thinner while remaining just as strong which creates a thinner computer. Also, the laterally flexible assembly""s braces can be made wider as described above instead of or in addition to the busbars.
As originally filed, the Disclosed Invention included guides on the underside of its laterally flexible assembly that positioned the keyboard and conducted electronic data between its keys and and the parent system when the keyboard was in open and closed position. Although subsequent improvements in the Disclosed Invention have indicated that the original positional guides/circuitry conductors may not be the optimal solution for these two different functions, recent analysis has indicated another function for such guides which this Disclosure has not yet addressed. This is a need for the keyboard to inform a user when it has reached its open and closed positions. This the keyboard could easily do by having a number of small guides on its underside that mate with a similar number of receptive surfaces on the parent system below to create an audio/tactile means that informs the user when the keyboard has reached its exact open or closed position, as then the user will not be left wondering whether or not the desired position has been attained.
As originally filed, the Disclosed Invention""s keyboard has no means of limiting its maximum width when open, other than xe2x80x9cthe movable positional guides on the undersides of the busbars that serve to accurately locate the keys.xe2x80x9d But such guides do not solve a xe2x80x98linkage-lagxe2x80x99 problem revealed by the Invention""s prototypes built subsequent to this Patent""s original filing: when the closed keyboard is opened, the outer busbars tend to open even wider than their 19 mm spacings before the central bars begin to spread apart, even if the laterally flexible assembly is precisely made. But if integral hooks are placed on the sides of the laterally flexible assembly""s braces as shown in FIG. 11 of the Drawings, the hooks will rotate slightly as the keyboard opens and interlock when the keys are 19 mm apart. Another way to achieve the same result is to locate a series of sliding slotted stops on the braces"" undersides as shown in FIG. 12 of the Drawings. Such limiters not only eliminate the xe2x80x9clinkage-lagxe2x80x9d problem described above and establish the exact 19 mm key-to-key pitch that equates this keyboard""s open position with standard desktop keyboards, they additively determine the width of the keyboard when it is open.
As originally filed, the Disclosed Invention has only two positions: open and closed. However, certain embodiments could have positional guides that articulate an intermediate setting between these two positions, for purposes of making the Invention more useful for children with small hands whose fingers might not easily reach a keyboard""s normally-spaced keys. This feature could have significant ramifications in the field of elementary education.
As originally filed, the Disclosed Invention makes no mention of any up-and-down movement of the spacebar, other than implying that it moves up and down during its normal operation. However, in certain embodiments this elongate key may need to lift upward slightly to allow the keyboard to slide more freely as it opens and closes, and/or this key may need to push downward slightly and hold the keyboard secure while the latter is being used. Such lifting and clamping can be achieved by installing a spring mechanism with a small handle on top directly in front of the spacebar, so that when the handle is moved one way it forces the spacebar up and when it is moved the other way it forces the spacebar down. Another means of doing the same is for the spacebar to spring up slightly as the keyboard is opened or closed, then the bar is pushed back down before the keyboard is used.
As originally filed, the Disclosed Invention has four supports on the computer""s sides which swing outward before the keyboard is opened so they can hold up the outermost keys that protrude beyond the computer""s sides; then after the keyboard is closed, the supports swing back into the computer""s sides. But a simpler way to provide the same support is to mount under the keyboard""s outer corners four small legs that are mostly hidden in the computer""s base when the keyboard is closed then slide out automatically as the keyboard is opened. But for such legs to work well, the parent system would have to rest on a planar surface. But this need can be eliminated by installing under the keyboard""s corners outriggers that cantilever from the computer""s base as the keyboard is opened. Then when fully open, the keyboard""s outermost keys are supported in a way that enables a small computer to be placed on one""s lap or any other irregular surface.
Subsequent to this Patent""s First Continuation In Part (C.I.P. 1) which was submitted to the PTO on Jun. 2, 1999, the Inventor has made further improvements to the Disclosed Invention and incorporated them into this Second Continuation-In-Part (C.I.P. 2), as described below.
As originally filed in this Invention""s Patent and subsequently filed in its C.I.P. 1, the Disclosed Invention includes a keyboard of alphanumeric and operational keys wherein each key is mounted on a busbar, of which a typical key-to-busbar construction is shown in the sectional view of FIG. 3A. However, this key-to-busbar construction has been improved as follows:
1. The tops of each key are dished from front to back, the outer edges of their interlocking sides are thinner and become gradually thicker toward the key""s center, and the continuous edge beneath the key that engages a longitudinal guide projecting from the busbar below is replaced by two prongs projecting from the key""s underside, wherein said prongs engage two similar prongs rising from the busbar in a manner which holds the key in place when it is poised in unactivated position and allows the key to be removed for purposes of cleaning and repair when an upward leverage is applied under one of its edges.
2. The tiny circular spring beneath each key is replaced by a flexible circular hollow grommet that collapses to a fraction of its height when pressure is applied to its top.
3. The circuitry that conducts electronic data from each activated key to the parent system and is imbedded in the busbars connection to the brace below (see FIG. 3A) is replaced by a paper-thin ribbon of slightly flexible plastic with the key""s circuitry printed on its surface and is located separately from the busbar""s connection to the brace below. Many such printed circuitry ribbons can be cheaply made and then cut, creased, and fitted into or onto the busbars as shown in FIGS. 16 to 23.
4. Each busbar is no longer a flat bar with a simple rectangular cross-section, but instead is quite thicker as described in two improved embodiments elsewhere in this Specification. However, although the busbar in each embodiment is thicker, the depth of each total key-to-busbar assembly is less. This is because in the original key-to-busbar assembly the length of the key""s stem was stacked on top of the busbar""s depth (see FIG. 3A), but in the improved assemblies the key""s stem and the busbar""s depth are arranged side to side. Thus no matter how efficiently these components are otherwise made, the new assembly will be less deep than the old; unless the later assembly somehow causes the key""s stem or plunger to lengthen, which here it doesn""t. Another aspect of these depth logistics is the relation between a key""s stem length and its travel, that short but important vertical distance a key moves when it is pressed or activated. Typically a key""s stem length equals its travel plus the length of its guides (the means by which the key is held in a vertical position as it travels). Thus if user ergonomics indicate that a keyboard key should have a travel of at least 2 mm (0.08 in.) to feel comfortable to most users and the length of its guides are added to this, the depth of the key""s busbar can be considerably greater than one might think before it will increase the depth of the key-to-busbar assembly and thereby confer this added depth to the parent system as a whole. Thus it cannot be said of any computer on which this key-to-busbar assembly is mounted that the computer is made narrower at the expense of increasing its depth, no matter how great that depth may be for other reasons.
This improved key-to-busbar assembly allows the invention as a whole to be stronger, lighter, more attractive, more durable, and more economical than before. Both embodiments of this assembly are also more thoroughly and articulately described, which removes much of the anxiety that prospective manufacturers have previously expressed upon examining the Disclosed Invention.
As originally filed in this Invention""s Patent and subsequently filed in its C.I.P. No. 1, the Disclosed Invention has its keyboard keys mounted in perfectly straight columns on its busbars in a         direction. But on a standard computer keyboard, each column of keysxe2x80x94say the 3 E D C keysxe2x80x94is not perfectly straight, which has led some commercial examiners of the Disclosed Invention to believe that the Disclosed keyboard when in open position might not duplicate normal typing as fully as is claimed.
But let""s look at this seeming discrepancy more closely. If one lays a ruler along the upper right corners of the 3 E D C keys, or any other such column of keys on a standard keyboard, one will find that key E juts approximately 1.8 mmxe2x80x94about {fraction (1/16)} in.xe2x80x94to the right of a line passing through the very corners of keys 3 and C, while key D falls about 1.8 mm short of this line. Such offsets tend to be similar on any standard keyboard.
Now on first thought one might say: simply put a few slight bends in the busbar. This adjustment, aside from increasing the cost of the invention a few cents, would not harm it in any way.
Then on second thought one might say: instead of changing the busbar move the stems of the xe2x80x9cExe2x80x9d row keys 1.8 mm to the right and move the stems of the xe2x80x9cDxe2x80x9d row keys 1.8 mm to the left. This adjustment would be as easy as changing the busbar and still would not harm the invention in any way.
Then on third thought one might say: would this little difference really affect one""s typing that much? 1.8 mm is less than one-tenth the distance between the centers of two keysxe2x80x94hardly wider than a hangnail.
Suffice it to say that whatever any further research indicates or any eventual manufacturer desires, any one of the solutions outlined above can easily be implemented in the Invention""s final and most preferred embodiment.
As originally filed in this Invention""s Patent, the Disclosed Invention shows the tops of its keys as being flat. But in a standard computer keyboard, each key typically has a slight side-to-side dish that enables a touch-typist""s fingers to use the key more efficiently. Accordingly, the tops of the keys as shown in this Specification now have a slight lateral dish in their tops so they will look and operate more like standard keyboard keys.
As originally filed in this Invention""s Patent and subsequently filed in its C.I.P. No. 1, the two side profiles of the keys in the Disclosed Invention have sharp points and indents. However, some examiners of the Disclosed Invention""s original prototypes have expressed concern that such sharp xe2x80x98sawtoothxe2x80x99 or xe2x80x98pinking shearxe2x80x99 profiles may be tactilely and aesthetically undesirable to a considerable percentage of consumers. Accordingly, this Specification""s latest Drawings shows the points and indents in the keys"" side profiles as being rounder without reducing the indents"" depth.
As originally filed in this Invention""s Patent and subsequently filed in its C.I.P. No. 1, the Disclosed Invention has six rows of keys mounted on its laterally flexible assembly: row 1 which includes the function keys, row 2 which includes the number keys, row 3 which includes the q-p keys, row 4 which includes the a-1 keys, row 5 which includes the z-m keys, and row 6 which includes several operational keys and the spacebar. However, there is a logistical reason why the first and sixth rows can possibly be left off the keyboard""s laterally flexible assembly. This is because the keys in these rows are not often used in touch-typing. Thus, since the ability to touch-type at top speed on a very small computer is perhaps the biggest single advantage of the Disclosed Invention, for economic reasons a manufacturer may choose to exclude rows 1 and/or 6 from the keyboard""s laterally flexible assembly and instead fix these rows on the body of the parent system just to the front or back of the other keys. In fact, because one usually looks at a function key when using it, the keys in row 1 could be narrowed until they fit within the sides of a small computer. And by making the spacebar not quite as long, it too along with the control keys in its row could be made to fit within the sides of a small computer.
As originally filed in this Invention""s Patent and subsequently filed in its C.I.P. No. 1, the disclosed keyboard has been described only as an xe2x80x9cinputxe2x80x9d device. However, there are numerous industrial applications for the Invention in which its xe2x80x9ckeysxe2x80x9d could be indicator lights, LED displays, and even television or computer monitorsxe2x80x94wherein such xe2x80x9ckeysxe2x80x9d actually function as output activators. Indeed, almost every standard keyboard has a few output activators. For example, if one presses the caps lock key, a light usually appears on the keyboard: that light is an output activator. The same is true for the NUM LOCK light, SCROLL LOCK light, and several other tiny indicator lights that appear on most laptop keyboards. Thus in the Specification and Claims of this Second Continuation In Part, the words xe2x80x9ckeyboardxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ckeyxe2x80x9d connote both input and output; though input still has the stronger connotation. For these reasons the present Specification""s broadest claim is for an xe2x80x9cinput/output device comprising a plurality of input/output activatorsxe2x80x9d, from which a narrower claim of a xe2x80x9ckeyboard in which said activators are alphanumeric/operational keysxe2x80x9d depends.
Subsequent to this Patent""s Second Continuation In Part (C.I.P. 2) which was submitted to the PTO on Aug. 4, 1999, the Inventor has made numerous additional improvements to the Disclosed Invention, in which said improvements both individually and colectively may be said to represent an additional embodiment, in part or in whole, of said Invention, and which together comprise a Third Continuation In Part (C.I.P. 3) of this Specification as follows:
1. The busbar has for the most part a channel-like cross-section wherein the channel""s central web forms the bottom of the busbar and the channel""s two end flanges extend upward as the busbar""s sides to form a trough-like depression down the central portion of the busbar. This trough has a somewhat zigzag shape (see FIG. 29) which effectively widens the busbar without increasing its actual width, which provides more lateral room for the keys and their underlying circuitry to fit and work together.
2. Each circuitry ribbon that runs the length of each busbar lays flat in the bottom of the busbar""s trough, and each ribbon has a similar somewhat zigzag outline as that of the trough it lays in. Each ribbon also has no creases in it which simplifies its manufacture, assembly, and operation.
3. A rubber-like row of domed switches, hereinafter called an elastomeric switch strip, fits on top of the portion of the circuitry ribbon that runs the length of each busbar and has a width and thickness that essentially fills the above-described trough of said busbar. Each dome in each elastomeric switch strip is located directly beneath a key mounted upon the busbar, so that when a key is depressed it depresses the elastomeric dome below it in a manner that pushes a small electrical contact on the dome""s underside downward until said contact touches a pair of open circuitry terminals in a way that completes a circuit between these terminals which conducts electronic information to the parent computer that this particular key has been activated.
4. The elastomeric switch strip has a plurality of projections along its edges which fit into corresponding indents along the inside edges of the trough in the busbar; this interlocking of switch strip projections and busbar indents (1) keeps any portions of the switch strip from potentially creeping upward during the life of the keyboard and reducing the travel of the keys while they were continually being used, (2) holds the circuitry ribbon laying the busbar trough securely in place and by concealing the ribbon also protects it from possible damage, and (3) prevents microdebris from entering the crucial contact voids between each dome and the circuitry ribbon under each key.
5. The above essentially flat and longitudinal arrangement of each switch strip and circuitry ribbon in each busbar trough allows two portions of each busbar""s length to be displaced laterally in a manner that enables the second key from the front of each busbar to be located about {fraction (1/16)} in. to the left of the busbar""s center and the third key from the front to be about {fraction (1/16)} in. to the right of the busbar""s center, as such front-to-back nonalignment of these two keys on each busbar is the same as their arrangement on a standard computer keyboard; thus this nonalignment comprises the most familiar arrangement of all the keys on the keyboard and as such makes the keyboard slightly easier to use.
6. The number of keys mounted on each busbar is five, in which the sixth or front-most row of keys customarily found on a computer keyboard (the row that includes the spacebar and several operational keys) are stationary; that is, they do not move in and out as the expandable keyboard is opened and closed. The function keys that form the keyboard""s rearmost row of keys are also the same size as the alphanumeric keys, which makes them more usable than the diminutive function keys that typically appear on today""s handheld computers.
7. The collector locus of circuitry ribbon wires that run in the trough of each busbar (from which collector locus said wires extend to and from the collector loci of adjacent busbars in a manner that forms a plurality of continuous circuits between the keys on each busbar and the parent computer) is not at the very back of the each busbar but is situated between the two rearmost keys of each busbar.
8. The total matrix of circuitry ribbons for the whole keyboard is divided into two parts: a right half and a left half. The right half contains seven xe2x80x9cfingersxe2x80x9d whose somewhat zigzag outlines lay in the seven rightmost busbars of the keyboard, a series of xe2x80x9cbridgesxe2x80x9d that interconnects these seven fingers near the rear of the busbars, and a xe2x80x9ctabxe2x80x9d that extends from the central rear portion of the keyboard toward an electronic connection in the parent computer; and the left half is essentially a mirror-image of a similar number of fingers, bridges, and one tab. This arrangement of the keyboard""s microcircuitry allows it to be manufactured and assembled easily and economically.
9. The means of supporting the outermost portions of the keyboard when they extend beyond the left and right sides of the parent computer when said keyboard is opened is achieved not by underlying outriggers or legs but by considerably increasing the depth of the outermost braces that lay beneath the busbars and interconnect them.
10. The means of achieving the keyboard""s maximum width when in open position is achieved by a continuous steel xe2x80x9cU-springxe2x80x9d located under the keyboard""s busbars and above its braces. This one part not only simplifies the manufacture, assembly, and operation of the Disclosed Invention, it allows a user to open the keyboard by merely lifting the keyboard""s closed ends slightlyxe2x80x94then suddenly the keyboard springs out to its open position. Then to close the keyboard, one merely applies a slight lateral pressure against its sides which compresses the Z-spring""s segments which returns the keyboard to its closed position.
In summary the above-described improvements make the Disclosed Invention more easy to manufacture, easier to operate, stronger, more durable, and more economical than ever before.
Taking all the above into consideration, the primary advantage of the Disclosed Invention is that it allows xe2x80x98laptopxe2x80x99 and xe2x80x98palmtopxe2x80x99 computers and similar lightweight or mobile electronic devices with alphanumeric keyboards to be made nearly as small as a paperback or videocassette while allowing their keyboards to be used with the same skill and precision as those of full-size desktop computers. For example, with this Invention you can enter a conference with a computer hardly bigger than a paperback, open its keyboard, then while looking at someone talking you can touch-type at top speed. You can""t perform this basic business activity on any other kind of computer today. For a second example, with one hand you can reach for a paperback-sized computer on a surface several feet to your left, then with a broad sweep of this one hand you can carry this lightweight object to a place several feet to your right, then sit down and immediately begin touch-typing at top speed. If you tried this with a standard-sized laptop you could dislocate your shoulder. Such a sweeping motion is a basic ergonomic movement which one cannot perform while holding any other kind of computer that has a full-size keyboard. In this and many other ways, the Disclosed Invention makes computers evanescently mobile, incredibly versatile, anytime, anywhere. Indeed, it makes the miniaturization of computers practical. Such economies of size should also lead to corresponding economies of price.
A further advantage of the Disclosed Invention is that its keys remain fully operable even when in closed positionxe2x80x94an advantage that cannot be enjoyed with the above-cited U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,940,758 and 5,187,644 or indeed with any other open-and-close keyboard today. Thus the Disclosed Invention retains one of the greatest advantages of palmtop computers: that a standing user can easily hold such a device in a single hand while operating its keys with the otherxe2x80x94and in so doing use the device while interviewing someone, inventorying shelved merchandise, walking down a hallway, or even while leaning against the rail of a moving walkway in an airport. A standing user can also quickly sit down with such a pint-sized computer, open its keyboard, and immediately begin touch-typing at top speed. Such standing-then-seated operation is another common business activityxe2x80x94one associated with taking notes then immediately summarizing said notes while the note-taking is still fresh in mindxe2x80x94that cannot be performed with any other computer today.
A further advantage of the Disclosed Invention is that the deeply profiled edges of its individual keys may serve as a more tactile aid to a typist than the usual smooth-sided keys, which may actually lead to speedier and more accurate data entry.
A further advantage of the Disclosed Invention is that it should eliminate the tendency of present makers of palmtops and other small computers to remove certain keys which may be important to some users of desktop models in efforts to create a more compact keyboard.
A further advantage of the Disclosed Invention is that it allows computers of present desktop or laptop capability to be made much lighter. Indeed, recent advances in computer microelectronics when combined with the Disclosed Invention would enable a hand-sized computer with a full-size keyboard to have 32 MB of RAM, a 256-color display, PC card slots, serial interfaces, and built-in batteries and allow one to xe2x80x9crun Windows(copyright) anywherexe2x80x9d and communicate via Emailxe2x80x94wirelessly or otherwisexe2x80x94while weighing hardly half a kilogram. Never before has such a versatile computer been able to be so evanescently mobile.
A further advantage of the Disclosed Invention is that the keys"" deeply indented profiles may impart an eye-catching character to the device in which they are installed, which should make such devices highly marketable.
A further advantage of the Disclosed Invention is that it has more applications than being mounted on small computers, only a sampling of which are listed below:
1. Several companies and numerous individuals have expressed a desire to adapt the Disclosed Invention into an open-and-close keyboard that can operate palm-sized pen-input devices, in which the Disclosed Invention would be hardly bigger than a cigarette case. Such a stand-alone keyboard would also make a nice accessory for owners of present handheld computers.
2. A maker of xe2x80x9cruggedized notepadsxe2x80x9d, an electronic writing tablet about 5xc3x978 inches in size, has expressed a desire to install the Disclosed Invention under his notepad""s display, so users can pull the closed keyboard out from under the display then open it and begin typing as if they were at a desktop computer.
3. A numeric keypad could be added to the disclosed keyboard so that when closed the whole keyboard fits within the width of a standard-sized laptop computer, and when open the laptop would have in addition to its standard keys a numeric keypad. A variation of this keyboard would also work as a portable cash register.
4. The Disclosed Invention""s alphanumeric and operational keys could also be indicator lights, LED displays, even television or computer monitors, and they could be almost any size, and arrays of any combinations thereof could be configured as tightly arranged input/output activators mounted in auto or airplane dashboards, control room panels, and numerous industrial applicationsxe2x80x94then such arrays could pop forward with a slight touch and be opened into usable displays. Such open-and-close arrays would allow a greater number of controls to be installed in smaller instrument panel areas.
Although extreme latitude exists regarding the optimal sizing and configuring of the Disclosed Invention""s many elements, in which any one element when considered individually may not necessarily represent a particular embodiment of any portion of the Invention as described herein, each such element when considered in terms of its essence or conceptual nature may be said to be part of one or more particular embodiments of the Disclosed Invention, as follows: